Queensland

Australians themselves underestimate the size; people from other countries frequently have no understanding at all of how big it is and how far from place to place. As an indication, to travel by train from Brisbane to Cairns takes one and a half days; to fly in a light aircraft from the tip of Cape York to Cairns takes virtually a full day, taking into account road travel to the airport.to travel the same distance overland will take three or four days.

Climate
Queensland proudly calls itself the Sunshine State, and bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine are common. Two-thirds of Queensland lies in the tropics, with the Tropic of Capricorn running through Rockhampton...

As in other tropical areas, north of the Tropic of Capricorn is more accurately divided into a "wet" and the "dry" season rather than the usual four seasons. The wet is characterised by torrential rains and high humidity... temperatures reach the high thirties (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and above. The main wet months are December to March (that is the southern hemisphere summer) but in recent years the rains have been unpredictable, either not arriving at all or waiting until April - May to bucket down. Sometimes the rains are constant but often they are tropical downpours, occurring mainly in the afternoon and interspersed with fine periods of steamy heat.

South of Rockhampton, the climate is subtropical and less extreme. Winters can be cool enough for a jumper and the summers less humid.

Contrary to what may people think, it does get cold in Queensland. In the outback, the nights can be extremely cold, with temperatures frequently falling below zero. Even on the coast and well north, the nights and early mornings can be cold in winter, especially at high altitudes.

Queensland Beaches
Queensland has some stunningly beautiful beaches, long pristine sweeps of gold sand, often practically deserted. North of Gladstone, however, they are inside the Reef and so have little or no surf. In some areas the water recedes a long way at low tide and exposes large expanses of mud, making swimming impossible until the tide comes back in.

From October to April, the northern beaches are plagued with box jellyfish or stingers. These are small colourless jellyfish with long tentacles that breed in the rivers and float out to sea in the summer months. Their sting can be fatal and swimming in the sea is not an option during the months they are safe but, otherwise settle for the hotel or resort pool.

National Parks
There are over 300 national parks in Queensland ranging in size from a few hectares to several thousand. They incorporate some of the world's most precious untouched areas, from the red vastness of the Simpson Desert, through the complex richness of the rainforest, to the splendours of the Great Barrier Reef. Many of the National Parks have toilets and showers, together with a network of walking tracks. To camp in a national park you need a permit from a National Parks office.

The best time of year
To some extent this depends on where you are going and what you are looking for. Australians from the southern states usually head north in the winter months to escape the cold. This is the dry season when days are pleasantly warm without the humidity of summer months. However, in the southern half of the state it can be tool coo for swimming at this time of the year.

December to February is one of the heaviest booking periods throughout the Great Barrier Reef islands both with Australians and overseas guests.with September and October being a good time to visit the Reef as the trade winds have abated and the days are calm, sunny and warm.

Queensland Rail
There are two main train service from south to north : the Queenslander class incorporated in the Sunlander a tourist service which runs twice a week from Brisbane to Cairns and the Sunlander the normal five day commuter service between the two cities.also runs services to the main western centres. A weekly return trip for tourists runs between Cairns and Forsayth, and the famous Gulflander (carries people between Croydon and Normanton on the Gulf.

Most of the main coastal centres in Queensland are about four hours apart by road. Roads are medium to good on the coast and medium to bad in the outback.

Most major centres operate rent-a-car services and have depots where you can collect motor home rentals or a hire campervan. However, these do not always exist in smaller towns and there may not be a pick up and drop-off service. If you want to leave the car, campervan or motor home at somewhere other than the hiring centre, it may be difficult to arrange and, at the very least costly.